oneirodynia
by gayzula
Summary: Sometimes, in the dead of night, there are dreams. Except, Undyne's pretty sure they aren't dreams-they're a lot more tangible. They don't always fit together, so they can't be memories, and they aren't real, so that means they must be dreams. But they're not. In which Undyne remembers. one-shot, post-soulless pacifist, slight alphys/undyne.


**oneirodynia**

Sometimes, in the dead of night, there are dreams.

Except, Undyne's pretty sure they aren't dreams-they're a lot more tangible. They're _clear_ and they _make sense,_ and Undyne isn't quite sure what to make of it, because, the thing is, sometimes they're scary. (Not that she'd be scared of _anything,_ a nightmare or otherwise, _thank you very much.)_ And sometimes they're not. They don't always fit together, so they can't be memories, and they aren't real, so that means they _must_ be dreams.

But they're _not._

She used to dismiss them as nothing more but a vivid imagination of her brain-to her defense, those dreams _could_ get quite bizarre, unbelievable. Zero to one hundred in a manner of seconds, and boy, would she love to tell you she was joking or exaggerating. But no, 'bizarre' didn't even come close to covering it.

Come on, like, a talking flower planning the world domination. A talking flower trying to assassinate _Asgore_ of all monsters _,_ a king of monsters, the same monster who swore a war on humanity once the monsters break the barrier. A talking flower manipulating Papyrus, _sweet, goofy, naïve_ Papyrus - bless his soul - into sneaking into the basement of the king's castle, where, apparently, Asgore had been hiding six human souls for quite a while.

She still flinches whenever she thinks of it. The sight of Papyrus, tangled in vines, a flash of desperation flickering through his face before he turned to dust. The scream that ripped though her lungs was loud and _painfully real,_ tears hot against her cheeks, and as she sat up in the dark and quiet, the silence of her empty room was interrupted only by her soft sobs.

It took her a while to calm down and even her breathing, but the walk to the Wishing Room she decided to take was a good idea.

 _What a strangely specific nightmare,_ Undyne mused, looking at the sparkly crystals on the ceiling.

There were other dreams, too. Sometimes, the Underground was empty and dread chilled through her spine. Dust and ashes.

Other times, Undyne found herself sitting on a throne, listening to distant chirping of birds beyond the barrier. A golden flower in her hand, grief in her heart. And a crown on her head.

It was more often than not, that Alphys stood by her side through good and bad. Sometimes, she smiled, and sometimes, she didn't. Sometimes, there were sobs and tears, and sometimes, hands and touches.

And then the dream would disappear and Undyne would push the memory into the back of her mind. They were only dreams, after all.

But then, a couple of weeks later, Sans' off-handed remark sends ice through her veins and chills down her spine, as she is reminded of the vivid nightmare and its variations.

"What do you mean, a talking flower?!" she splutters.

"well, papyrus told me something interesting the other day. sometimes, when no one else is around... a flower appears and whispers things to him."

"What kinds of things?"

He shrugs. "flattery... advice... encouragement..." he trails off. "...predictions. someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him."

"Sans," Undyne urges, "I really, _really_ don't think it's an echo flower."

"still, it's weird. just keep an eye out, ok?"

And despite the emphasis on 'keep an eye', she knows it wasn't just a pun. 'Cause Sans appears to know _something_ about this.

* * *

The dreams stop after that. _As if on cue,_ she laughs bitterly.

The dreams stop and Sans plays stupid, _insists_ that he has no idea what Undyne is talking about. And Undyne is beyond frustrated with _everything_ and she wants it to end. She's half-convinced that her conversation with Sans was a dream too, at this point, but it _doesn't make sense_ and _nothing makes sense._

"I think I remember dying," she says one evening, sitting on Alphys' couch, buried in the blanket, only half-paying attention to the history documentary Alphys likes to watch so much.

Alphys squeaks, "W-what?"

"Eh. Just a dream I had, but. Kinda vivid," she shrugs.

They stay quiet for a while, just looking at each other. Concern bleeds into Alphys' look.

Surprisingly, it is Alphys who breaks the silence. "W-what... what w-was it like?"

"Bizzare?" Undyne blinks. She's not even sure herself. "Like, I could feel splitting apart into million pieces. But something didn't let me. It was burning in my soul. Like I said. Weird."

Alphys gives her a shaky nod and Undyne can't help herself but think she looks a bit nauseous.

"But hey," she grins in an attempt to lighten the mood. "There was this one dream where I was a queen and I promoted you!"

"Y-you did?"

"Hell yeah!" she laughs. "You were a queen too. You were still a royal scientist, but you were also a queen. We were leading the Underground to the bright new era!"

"We were... queens t-together?" Alphys whispers.

To which, Undyne's face turns red, as she realizes how it must sound. "I-I mean..." she trails off. Oddly enough, she has trouble looking Alphys in the eyes for the rest of the evening.

She thinks of the handful of kisses they'd shared in Undyne's dreams and thinks, _Perhaps it's_ exactly _how it sounds._

Later that night, when Undyne leaves Alphys' lab, she takes the long way round and stops by the Wishing Room.

"I wish some of my dreams would come true. And I fear it even more," she whispers to the fake stars smiling at her from the ceiling.

 _I wish some of my dreams would come true. And I fear it even more,_ an echo flower whispers back.

* * *

She has another dream not long after that. Though, it's somewhat different.

To her relief, no evil yellow flower hell-bent on world domination appears in it. There is, however, a different source of terror - a human child with a soul as red as her dreams and smile as cold as the wind that scatters Undyne's ashes.

She remembers her death again and even a bit _after._ Coming back stronger than ever, with even _more conviction,_ but, no avail.

 _D-Damn it! Still not enough,_ she mouths as she slips from a dream to reality, and her last thought belongs to Alphys.

The next day, a human falls down.

* * *

They didn't come true.

The human came and the human was the cause why the Underground has gone empty, but not in the way it had gone in Undyne's dreams. No. Something even more remarkable happened, something that never happened in her dreams - _the kid broke the barrier._

Nobody really knows why or remembers it, but Undyne has a feeling it has something to do with the flower from her dreams. She has a feeling - or perhaps a glimpse of a memory, really - like the flower was there and then-then it wasn't?

The events are _unclear_ at best, but at the end of the day, the barrier was broken. So Undyne lets it go, crosses her fingers and hopes the dreams that are not dreams won't bother her anymore.

Instead, she focuses on what _did_ come true - Undyne and Alphys, reigning their little kingdom in the kitchen, wher they make breakfast together; or in the living room, where they cuddle on the couch, fingers intertwined; or in the bed, where they fall asleep listening to their breath and hearts as one.

Even now, sometimes, in the dead of night, there are dreams.

Except, Undyne's pretty sure they aren't dreams-they're a lot more tangible. They're _clear_ and they _make sense,_ and Undyne isn't quite sure what to make of it, because, the thing is, sometimes they're scary. (Not that she'd be scared of _anything,_ a nightmare or otherwise, _thank you very much.)_ And sometimes they're not. They don't always fit together, so they can't be memories, and they aren't real, so that means they _must_ be dreams.

But they're _not._

They feel a lot more important than they used to, for some reason, but Undyne puts it all aside and pushes them to the lonely corner of her mind. She has the real thing now, after all, and Undyne will be damned if waking up to the warm kiss of sun isn't a dream come true. (Not those coming to her at night when she's asleep, but those she used to think about when she was wide awake and wish for in the Wishing Room under the fake sky.)

* * *

But the world shatters once more, and she awakens in the dead of night in her old bedroom in Waterfall. She realizes she's alone, and her girlfriend isn't by her side. Never before did her bed seem so big and empty.

"Another dream?" she whispers to the pillow, tears hot against her cheeks, and as she sits up in the dark and quiet, the silence of her dark room is interrupted only by her heavy breathing.

The dreams that are not dreams have been poisoning her mind for a while now, but she had no idea they could be _so_ tangible. If the snippets of past and future _before_ were _vivid,_ she has _no_ idea what to call them now.

The next day, a human falls down, and Undyne is determined to find the answers.


End file.
